Skate Report: Letang still 'game-time decision' taken in New York (Courtesy of Point Park University)

Barclays Center. - CHRIS BRADFORD / DKPS

NEW YORK -- The Kris Letang watch is officially on again.

The defenseman said that he'd know Thursday morning if he were ready to play for the Penguins later that night against the Islanders. If he is or isn't ready, he must not have told Mike Sullivan.

In a possible bit of gamesmanship just two hours before the puck drops at Barclays Center in Brooklyn against the Islanders, Sullivan said that Letang will once again be a game-time decision.

Presumably, Letang will take warmups and a final determination will be made on his availability.

Letang suffered a lower body injury Saturday night in Vancouver and briefly exited the game. He was then held out of Tuesday's first game of this home-and-home series against the Islanders, after also being labeled a game-time decision. However, Letang did practice in full on Wednesday and reported no problems afterward.

Sullivan reiterated that he's not exercising an abundance of caution with Letang.

"If he's cleared, he's cleared," the coach said.

In Letang's absence on Tuesday, Juuso Riikola was back in the lineup and quarterbacked the top power play unit. Riikola played 18:12 and acquitted himself fairly well in the Penguins' 6-3 loss.

However, he is not Letang. Few are, Sullivan said.

"Injuries are part of the game," he said. "We certainly don't want any of our players to go down. Tanger's a particular guy that's important to our team for obvious reasons. He's our No. 1 defenseman. We rely on him in all situations. He's not an easy guy to replace, but we believe we have capable people regardless of who's in our lineup. We just try to deal with what's ahead of us and make the right decisions to help our team win."

THE ESSENTIALS

Media notes

Team statistics

NHL scoreboard

NHL standings

THE INJURIES

Penguins: Derick Brassard, forward, will miss his third straight game with a lower-body injury. He is day-to-day and did not make the trip to New York. Justin Schultz, defenseman, is expected to miss four months after fracturing his leg Oct. 13 in Montreal.

Islanders: Barry Trotz said that Cal Clutterbuck will return to the lineup after missing two games with an upper-body injury. Clutterbuck will skate as the fourth line right wing, the position held Tuesday by Tom Kuhnhackl, who was sent down to Bridgeport on Wednesday.

FROM THE OTHER SIDE

Only a handful of Islanders took to the ice during Thursday's optional skate at Northwell Health Ice Center, their Long Island practice facility. Among those who did was Thomas Greiss, who will get the start in goal tonight against the Penguins.

Greiss finished out New York's 6-3 win over the Penguins on Tuesday, stopping 12 of 13 shots in the third period at PPG Paints Arena.

He replaced Robin Lehner, who left after 40 minutes with a muscle strain. Trotz said on Thursday morning that Lehner is day-to-day but could return to the ice as soon as Friday.

Greiss is 2-2 this season with a .933 save percentage and 2.27 goals-against average. The 32-year-old is 3-1 with a .916/2.27 against the Penguins in his decade-long career. In 2014-15, he appeared in 20 games as Marc-Andre Fleury's backup in Pittsburgh.

THE NON-SKATE

• The Penguins did not hold a morning skate Thursday but Mike Sullivan did address the media at 5 p.m. He confirmed that, as expected, Matt Murray will start in goal.

• The Islanders are among a handful of NHL teams who conduct their morning skates at their practice facility. The Northwell Health Ice Center is located in Uniondale, across from the Nassau County Coliseum, a 28-mile drive from Barclays Center. The Penguins' game against the Islanders on Dec. 10 will be at the Coliseum, which hosted the Islanders from 1972 to 2015.

Evgeni Malkin was named the NHL’s second star of the month for October. He had six goals and 13 assists for 19 points in 10 games and is second in the league in scoring. Sullivan gave an impassioned defense for Malkin, who he says doesn't get enough credit around the league.

"I think Geno flies under the radar for whatever reasons," Sullivan said. "He doesn't in Pittsburgh, and he certainly doesn't on our team or within our dressing rom. But in the hockey world, I think Geno's a guy that tends to fly under the radar in terms of how dominating a player he is and has been. He's one of the more accomplished players in the league and he continues to do it year in and year out. He's doing it again this year for us. "

THE COMBINATIONS

Here are the lines and combinations that the Penguins used Wednesday in practice, followed by the Islanders' likely lineup :

Guentzel-Crosby-Simon

Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel 

Sheahan-Cullen-Hornqvist 

Rust-Grant-Sprong

Dumoulin-Letang 

Maatta-Oleksiak 

Johnson-Ruhwedel 

Lee-Nelson-Bailey

Beauvillier-Barzal-Eberle

Ladd-Filppula-Komarov

Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck

Leddy-Pulock

Pelech-Boychuk

Hickey-Mayfield

THE SCHEDULE

Faceoff tonight is at 7:08 p.m. at Barclays Center. The Penguins will have a scheduled off day on Friday before they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena.

THE COVERAGE

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